Your 2015 West Potomac Wolverine Varsity Squad.
Monday is likely to include National Anthem practice.
The team survived an attempted comeback by the Mount Vernon
Sadly, Wolverine parents have failed to teach
their children the proper way to do "YMCA."
This is why important skills are lost over time.
After the game, the team, their rivals, and fans of both teams stayed to dedicate the season to Hannah Graham with a moving tribute that led many to tears. Hannah had been a West Potomac softball player, and a captain during the sophomore years of this season’s six seniors. Hannah had also played for the Mt. Vernon Magic travel teams, so many of the older players on the Majors knew her well.
The Wolverine tribute to Hannah for the season
The Wolverines are wearing her initials, HEG, on their batting helmets for the season. There is a banner to her on the Wolverine Monster – the large new fence in right rield, and a plaque to honor Hannah and her retired number. Coach Craig Maniglia provided brief, moving comments in Hannah’s memory.
Coach Craig with Hannah's Plaque
Neither team was particularly sharp during the game, as the cold, wind, and opening night jitters combined for a sloppier battle than these two teams will be providing later this season. However, along with the chills of the night, the action provided plenty of thrills.
Jayne started out the top of the first by getting the talented
This is what 11 Ks looks like: intense!
Raven Williams delivered the first run of the season on a fielder’s choice, and Caroline Bowman carried her hot hitting over from the scrimmages of the previous two nights (and from last season too!) by rapping a single to center, to make it 2-0.
Maddie tracks it down
West Potomac struck for three runs in the home half of the second inning. Torie Bolger, who ranks as one of the 14 fastest players on varsity out of 14, somehow legged out an infield single to deep short. While her pinch runner was forced at second, that left a runner on first. Grace walked, Annabelle Miller hit a soft single to left over the 3rd baseman’s reach, and suddenly the bases were loaded. Raven followed with a seeing eye hit to left for an RBI. Then, Caroline added two more ribbies with a double that missed being a four bagger by just a few feet. Suddenly, it was 5-1.
Nikki reached first, scored her second run.
The sun went down. The mercury went down. The fans froze (I hope that the players appreciate parental willingness to be popsicles for them, but since they are teenagers, probably not. Some day, he mumbled softly to himself, some day!). (Editor’s Note: Um, come back to us and write about the darn game!)
As the temperatures went down, both pitchers kicked it into higher gear. In the third, Torie held onto a tipped third strike, and Annabelle made a nice catch of a bunt attempt gone awry. Nikki’s single went for naught, as she got no further than third.
Due to budget cuts, Coach Maniglia did double
duty as an umpire, calls Grace safe here.
The 4th inning passed without much harm to the softball, as both a Mt. Vernon player and Maddie Miller had singles in their respective at-bats, but were not advanced past first. Jayne had her second one-two-three inning in the 5th and was cruising.
Torie had another infield single leading off the home 5th, and Nikki followed with a walk. The next three West Po players were unable to do anything with their at-bats, and we moved into the sixth with the score still 5-1.
Raven awaits the throw.
The normally-reliable Christina Dillard came into to pitch the 6th, but the Wolverine wheels came off. After the first three hitters reached, a Majors double tightened it to 5-3. Jayne came back in to try and save her own victory. The lead dropped to one on a bang-bang play at the plate.
With no one out, the tying run on third, and the go-ahead run on second, Jayne took matters into her own hands and got a K, a backwards K, and another backwards K. Inning over! Crisis averted! Wolverine fans exhaled! Coaching staff aneurysms avoided!
Caroline led off the bottom of the sixth by reaching on an error. Fleet footed Olivia Manous pinch ran, went to second on a groundout, third on a wild pitch, and scored an insurance run to make it 6-4. Thus, the opportunistic Wolverines scored half of their six runs in an unearned fashion.
Torie alongside the plate, not behind it.
The bottom of the sixth started scary, with a walk to the lead-off Major, but then Jayne got two quick outs. After a single to right on a 1-2 count, the next batter whiffed on three strikes. The game was over, but the evening was not.
The Majors and Wolverines shared
their love for Hannah together.
Wolverine Whispers: In theory, West Potomac plays tonight, but the weather is not likely to cooperate. Please remember that this blog is unofficial, and NO information about cancellations will be posted here. (Basically, don’t trust, but verify.) If tonight’s game gets rained out, the next game is tomorrow at 2pm; the kick-off game of the Spring Break Tournament at home.
Jayne finished with eleven strikeouts, including whiffing seven of the last nine outs. The colder it got, the hotter she pitched. She only allowed one walk (two total by West Po pitchers).
(For those readers not good at math, Jayne had an eleven to one strikeout to walk ratio. In baseball school, they will tell that the technical term for that is “really, really darn good.”)
It was not a night fit for man nor fielding gems. . .Torie’s catch of the foul tip for strike three and Annabelle’s snag of the lined bunt were the relative glove highlights of an otherwise routine night.
Caroline and Torie led the way with two hits each. . .although they couldn’t have been more different. Caroline slugged hers, while Torie had two more infield hits than expected all season. Overall, West Potomac had eight hits, but also added two HBPs, three walks, and three reach on errors. Caroline had three RBIs and the only extra base hit of the night (a double), while Raven added the other two RBIs.
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